CAIRO (AP) — Two rights activists say security forces have stormed and taken control of a town south of Cairo that had been held by militants loyal to the ousted Islamist president.

Local activists Adel Shafiq and Ezzat Ibrahim said a joint force of army and police rolled into the town of Dalga, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) south of the Egyptian capital, before dawn on Monday. There were clashes with militants, they said.

Two army helicopters were flying low over the town, which has a 120,000 population of which an estimated 20,000 are minority Christians.

Militants drove police out of the town during a security vacuum in Minya, the province in which it is located, following the July 3 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in a popularly backed coup.